


Where It All Began

by MizuLeKitten



Series: Sugar Daddy Kolivance [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, CEO Kolivan, College Student Lance (Voltron), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 08:49:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11710971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MizuLeKitten/pseuds/MizuLeKitten
Summary: “Really, Mama, I promise I’m eating well. Hunk is making sure I don’t live off of canned food. Mama- Mama, please- I-I promise.” Lance laughed into the cell phone’s mic. His Mama rambled on as he dangled his feet off the ledge of the bridge he was sitting on.“Love you too, Mama. Say hello to everyone for me. I’ll make sure to call you in a month.” Lance hung up the phone, resting it in his lap with a grin that morphed into a sad smile.He had never been good at lying, especially to his Mama, but he guessed the fact that they were talking on the phone helped.





	Where It All Began

“Really, Mama, I promise I’m eating well. Hunk is making sure I don’t live off of canned food. Mama- Mama, please- I-I _promise._ ” Lance laughed into the cell phone’s mic. His Mama rambled on as he dangled his feet off the ledge of the bridge he was sitting on.

“I know you want to send me things! Wait until after I find a new place though! Yes, yes I’m still in the old one- of course I’m not living out of my car! I have standards!” He made a scandalized noise at the thought. “I just want to freshen things up. The place sucks anyways. The hot water runs out so fast, ugh.” His Mama let out a loud laugh.

He missed that laugh…

He shook himself out of his thoughts, tuning in to hear her saying her goodbyes. “Love you too, Mama. Say hello to everyone for me. I’ll make sure to call you in a month.” Lance hung up the phone, resting it in his lap with a grin that morphed into a sad smile.

He had never been good at lying, especially to his Mama, but he guessed the fact that they were talking on the phone helped.

Thing was, everything _had_ been going great, they really had! He had an apartment, albeit a little dingy, but he was a college student, so to be expected. He had a decent-ish paying job that allowed him to barely make ends meet. Plus, he was entering another semester of college at Garrison University. It was amazing!

Until it wasn’t.

He looked down at the water rushing below him, and sighed. When his Mama had called she had asked why he was outside. He had said that he had lost track of time, not realizing it was close to their monthly calls. Fact was, he had been sitting on the bridge for the past thirty minutes, trying to think up a way to tell her that everything had fallen apart.

He leaned back, tilting his head up towards the sky and watched the clouds slowly pass by. He knew life wasn’t easy, but this? It couldn’t get worse could it.

He felt something slide down his lap, and looked down right as his cell phone fell. Down, down, and down it went, a small splash as it fell into the water.

He stared, unblinking, at the water. His hands shook as he reached out, as if he could somehow pluck his cell phone from the water, good as new. “This is fine,” he whispered, his voice cracking a bit, “This is fine. I’m fine.”

He felt the hollowness encase his heart. That was his only way to contact his family. He couldn’t afford a new one, he could barely afford _that_ one.

The hollowness spread through his chest. What would happen in a month when his Mama called, and no one answered? Would she panic? Would she try and call Hunk? Did she even have Hunk’s number? Would she assume the worst, or would she wait a bit before calling again? How many times would she call before breaking down?

He brought his arms up, clutching himself, squeezing harder and harder, so wrapped up in his thoughts he didn’t feel the tears streaming down his face. He wasn’t even aware of the sobs that escaped his lips, the snot beginning to drip down his nose, the way his body began to shake harder and harder.

_You’re going places._

The words flashed in his mind. They were from his professor from last semester, in his leadership course. He had stopped Lance on the final day of classes, had pulled him aside as everyone left. Lance knew it was silly, but at the time he had feared the worst.

_You’re going places._ That’s what he said, and he had worn those words like a badge of pride.

Look at how wrong he was. In that moment, as he looked down off the side of the bridge, he knew it’d be so, so easy to just jump.

He reeled back, shuffling away from the edge, looking at it in horror. He turned on all fours, scrambling to get onto his feet, away, away from the ledge, and ran right into the street. He looked up, right as the car skidded to a stop in front of him.

“I’m-I’m so sorry!” Lance shouted out, arms still wrapped around his frame, tighter and tighter. He looked away, taking a step back towards the side walk, back towards the ledge, and immediately took a step forward. The car door opened, and Lance flinched, he didn’t want to get yelled at, not now.

“Lance?” the person called out.

He hadn’t been expecting that. He hadn’t been expecting him.

“Oh, hi, um, hi, Professor Kolivan.” Lance tried to smile, but could hear the tremble in his voice despite it.

Kolivan walked around to the front, closer to Lance. He was as tall as Lance remembered, towering over everyone. Still going to the gym as well, if the muscles peaking through the form fitting dress shirt said anything.

“Kolivan, I was only a professor for that semester, you know that,” Kolivan said.

Oh, yeah, Lance knew that. He had taken the job to pass time. He was a CEO, worked his way up from the bottom, and had his fair share of leadership positions. It was why he had offered to teach the class.

“Sorry,” Lance looked away.

He brought a hand up to rub at his nose, pulling it away in obvious disgust. A hand came into his vision, holding a tissue, no, a handkerchief. He looked up in confusion.

“You look like you need it,” was all Kolivan said. There wasn’t a hint of hidden disgust or pity. It was a fact. That’s all it was. Lance need a handkerchief and Kolivan had one.

Lance took it with a nod, nearly sighing at how soft it felt. How long had it been since he had felt something so soft? He rubbed at his nose, but knew that it wasn’t enough. He glanced up at Kolivan, who was just watching him, and turned his head, blowing his nose louder than he had intended.

“I, uh, do you, do you want this back?” Lance asked, looking down at the soiled cloth. “I mean, I wouldn’t want it back, but then again it _is_ silk. At least I think it is, it feels really soft at least, and-”

Chuckles filled the air, interrupting Lance’s stream of conscious. “Keep it, I can always get another.” Lance nodded, tucking it into his jacket pocket. “Now, is there a reason you were running out into the street?”

Lance flinched, rubbing the back of his neck, “Oh, you know, just, uh, running?”

“Into the street?” Kolivan’s eyebrow raised as he frowned, and Lance felt his face heat up.

“Yeah…”

They stood in silence, in the middle of the street, on the bridge, just standing there…

Kolivan sighed, “Well, come on.” He walked back towards the driver side, opening the door and standing there as Lance gaped at him. “Get in.”

“What? Me?” Lance looked around, before pointing at himself.

“Who else is standing in the middle of the road in front of my car?” Kolivan chuckled.

Heat exploded over Lance’s face, and he quickly scrambled forward. He paused when he opened the door, gaping down at the seats, the leather seats. He had fucking leather seats.

Suddenly Lance was aware just how much he _didn’t_ belong here. He was unshowered, wearing the same clothes from three days ago, was just crying up a storm, and Professor- no, Kolivan, expected him to just sit on these fine leather seats?

Kolivan closed the door, looking at Lance questioningly from where he sat, “Are you going to get in?”

“Of course!” Lance grinned, sitting down in the chair and going stock still.

“Might want your seatbelt on.”

“Of-of course,” Lance flinched as he repeated himself, quickly buckling. “Where, uh, where are we going?”

“I was on my way to lunch. I figured you’d be hungry as well.” Kolivan didn’t look away from the road as he answered.

Lance could feel his mouth water. When was the last time he had a full meal? He couldn’t remember, it had been so long...

~*~

Kolivan hadn’t expected to run into Lance so soon. He figured that the man would graduate and start his own business, and that’s when they would cross paths again. He hadn’t expected to nearly hit him with his car, hadn’t expected to see him in such a state.

His clothes were dirty, stains were beginning to show up, and his face a mess. Obvious tear stains left tracks down his cheeks, eyes bloodshot. What had made him so upset? Lance had always been a very open and honest person, if not a bit over the top, so when he had lied to Kolivan, he knew that it was serious.

Lance had been his favorite student at the Garrison, he had learned his patterns, watched him grow. He remembered how the other Professors told him to look out, that he’d have to come down on Lance hard to get any teaching done.

It hadn’t be true. It hadn’t been true at all. Well, partially. There were times, yes, that Kolivan had to remind Lance that they were in a _class_ room not a _play_ room. Generally, though, Lance’s creative outbursts found some way to be on topic, found some way to stay relevant. Add that to him being a fairly dedicated student, working hard to achieve second in class, then it was easy to find his playful nature endearing.

He was going places.

Finding him crying, running into the street, as if scared of his own skin, was a shock. Kolivan hadn’t lied about going to lunch, but he did change his destination after picking Lance up. Lance was big on appearance, that he knew, so to take him to the high dining restaurant that Kolivan had been on his way too wouldn’t have ended well. He would’ve been too self conscious to eat.

With that in mind, he pulled into the parking lot of the fast food joint. He’d make up this “poorer” meal to Lance another time, bring him elsewhere, somewhere with class. Kolivan shook his head as he exited the car. He was getting ahead of himself. He doubted they would run into each other again after this for some time. It was sad to think about, if he was being honest.

There was no line when they walked in, only one other family there in the building, besides the employees. Kolivan walked forward, but paused a bit before the register, waving his hand out to let Lance go ahead.

“Oh, um,” Lance looked away briefly, before looking back up at Kolivan with a grin. “Thanks, but no thanks, I’m, uh,” his voice began to taper off as he tried to think of a lie, no doubt, “saving up for something…”

It was that moment that Lance’s stomach chose to growl, and he flinched, hand instinctively going to his belly. Being that skinny had to be unhealthy. He frowned. This wouldn’t stand.

“I had every intention of paying, Lance,” Kolivan said, “I was allowing you to place your order first, as I haven’t thought of what I’d like yet.”

Lance looked up at him in surprise. Yes, maybe he didn’t expect Kolivan to pay, but the look he gave him was of utter bafflement, as if no one had done something like this for him in ages. His friends were lovely people, that couldn’t be true.

Lance stepped forward, careful not to brush against Kolivan’s suit. That, added with the trepidation from earlier when getting into Kolivan’s car, sat sourly in his stomach.

Once they ordered they found a seat, booth at Lance’s insistence. Kolivan easily dug in, he wasn’t a snob. Fast food had it’s appeal, although he prefered other establishments. He looked up at Lance, ready to ask how he was enjoying the meal and paused.

His hands were shaking. He honestly looked like he was about to start crying again. Why food would have such a reaction, Kolivan didn’t know. Unless…

“Lance?” His head jerked up to look at him, eyes wide like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. “When was the last time you ate?”

Lance’s laugh came out a high pitch, “Oh, you know, this morning, breakfast.”

“What did you eat?”

“Uh, just some food,” he paused, eyes never once meeting Kolivan’s. He groaned after a moment, pushing his food out of his way as he let his head fall onto the table. “Nothing. I ate nothing. I didn’t eat breakfast because I’m just,” he groaned louder this time, flinging himself back against his chair, arms flinging out, “I’m a freaking failure. I lost my stupid job, which made me get evicted, which means I don’t have money to pay for food, or laundry, or freaking class supplies!”

Lance let out a loud laugh. “Oh, school supplies, isn’t that a lovely reminder. I get to take out another even _bigger_ loan this year. Not like I wasn’t in a ton of debt already from moving to America and my last two years of college, right?” His voice cracked, angry tears welling up in his eyes and spilling over.

“To top it all off: I’m living out of my goddamn car. Which I won’t technically be allowed to drive in a week because of stupid registration fees!” His whole body sagged after a moment, anger giving way to sadness.

“It’s just-” a small sob escaped his throat, “It wasn’t supposed to go like this. I know- I know life isn’t- it isn’t easy, but I just… it wasn’t supposed to be _this_ hard.” He buried his head in his hands, soft sobs filling the building.

Kolivan frowned. Had this really happened all in the span of a single break? He opened his mouth, ready to speak, say something, anything, when Lance’s voice rose once more.

“I went- I went for the walk to clear my head. Mama,” he took a stuttering breath, “Mama was due for her monthly call and I-I just- I didn’t know how to tell her, you know? She was always so supportive.” He lifted his head up a bit, still staring at his hands. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t tell her.”

“The bridge was pretty, I liked the sound of the water from below. I had sat there because it was nice, but then… After the call, after my phone fell, I just. God, I wanted to jump.” Lance looked up at him then, and any thoughts were shoved out of his mind at the pure desperation on Lance’s face.

“I don’t want to die, Kolivan.” The words were a soft whisper between them, private, meant for only him to hear.

Kolivan was out of his chair in a flash, quickly kneeling before Lance and tugging the smaller man into his arms. Those words were far too familiar, rang to close to home from his time in the army. He had heard them far too many times, times he had been powerless to change.

“You’re not going to die, Lance,” he whispered into his hair, hold tightening on instinct. “I won’t let that happen, _you_ won’t let that happen.”

They stayed like that, close together, Lance clutching at his shirt as he shook in his arms. He could feel the damp patch growing on his shirt, but he couldn’t care less about it. Clothes were inconsequential compared to Lance’s pain. A shirt could be bought, replaced. Lord knew that Kolivan had more than enough money to spare-

He pulled back just enough to look at Lance, arms still wrapped around him. Lance sniffled before looking up at him. Shame adorned his features as he tried to pull away, eyes darting away. Kolivan wouldn’t let him though.

“Let me take care of you.”

Lance’s head whipped to look at him, eyes wide. “What?”

“There is an extra room in my suite. I had no purpose for it. We can turn it into your room.” Kolivan thought a moment, “As for your car, I can pay.”

“But-” Lance bit his lip, stopping himself as he mulled it over. “I mean, are- are you sure?”

“Of course.” Kolivan pulled his arms back, hoping that Lance didn’t feel caged. “I have the money. Who better to spend it on than you?”

He stared at him, unmoving, unblinking. Kolivan waited.

Lance’s eyes looked far off as he slowly nodded, “I- yes.” He nodded faster, “That’d- that’d be amazing.”

“We can discuss everything in length once you’re rested and fed,” Kolivan rose, returning to his seat. They would have much to discuss tomorrow, _much,_ but that could wait until Lance was ready.

~*~

Lance couldn’t really remember what happened after that. He guessed his brain shut down, body sagging in relief at the prospect of not having to worry about everything. He didn’t know if he finished eating, or if he had just sat there afterwards. He vaguely remembered being led back to the car, Kolivan’s hand a comforting presence on his back.

The car turned down various streets, going to some unknown location, but Lance was still numb, still stuck inside his mind. The situation had yet to process, his mind in a state of shock. It wasn’t until he stood inside a large, pristine bathroom, a set of Kolivan’s clothes in his hands, that the weight of everything came down upon him.

He cried. He didn’t know where the remaining tears came from, but it didn’t stop the loud sobs that left his body without care. He knew that he was being loud, but he grinned through it all. What had he done to deserve this? What had he done to deserve Kolivan’s help?

His knees buckled, hitting the floor with a thud. The pain shot through his body, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t care about it. He was relieved, so relieved.

_How long would it last?_ The thought was a sickening snap to reality. How permanent was this arrangement? _What_ was this arrangement?

There was a knock on the door, and Lance startled. “Lance, are you alright? I heard something fall.”

His shoulders relaxed, he didn’t know what he had expected. “I’m fine, don’t worry.” Lance paused, before tentatively calling out, “Kolivan?”

“Yes?” The response was immediate, and Lance’s heart swelled.

“Thank you, for- for everything.” Lance looked down at the clothes in his hand, playing with the sleeves of the large, surely expensive, shirt.

There was a chuckle, softened by the door between them. “There is no need to thank me. Anything you need, I will get for you.” Lance nodded, even though Kolivan couldn’t see.

_How long would it last?_ The voice repeated, but Lance pushed it aside. That thought would be tackled later. They had a lot to discuss, but tomorrow.

Lance pushed himself to his feet, looking at the large shower and tub before him. He grinned, a giddiness filling his veins that he had thought he wouldn’t feel again. Shower first, scrub off all the grime and dirt, and then he’d soak.

Lance had never stripped off his clothes faster in his life.

**Author's Note:**

> I promise you the rest of this AU is /not/ as angsty as this. /This/ wasn't even supposed to be super angsty but then shit happened.  
> If I need to add tags please tell me, I doubt I have everything covered.


End file.
